DESCRIPTION (Applicant's abstract): The typical age of onset for many major mental illnesses is late adolescence or young adulthood, coinciding with the traditional age of college enrollment (Beiser, Erickson, Fleming, & Iacono, 1993; Faraone, Chert, Goldstein, & Tsuang, 1994). In the United States, an estimated 4.3 million individuals with mental illnesses have left college prior to completion of their undergraduate degree, suggesting that mental illness plays a role in college attrition (Kessler, Foster, Samaden, & Stang, 1995). Mental health services and other supports may prevent college dropout for students with a mental illness diagnosis (Norman & Weiss, 1990). Unfortunately, much of the mental health research on college students focuses on those with transitional academic/vocational problems, rather than mental illnesses and examines college counseling centers to the exclusion of other interventions. This research proposal seeks to test a model regarding the relationship between mental health services and educational functioning for students with MI. Specifically, the research alms to: Describe the characteristics of students with mental illnesses, especially vis-a-vis characteristics related to different patterns of mental health service utilization; Examine the educational functioning as well as the academic and social integration of these students on campus; Test out a theoretical model (Tinto) of what predicts educational functioning, adapted for students with mental illness, to include mental health service utilization; Describe the perceptions of college students with mental illness regarding the availability and adequacy of mental health services provided to them. To accomplish these goals, 200 undergraduate university students with mental illnesses will be interviewed about their mental health history, mental health service utilization, and educational functioning. In addition, participants will be given measures assessing their symptomology, attitudes toward help seeking, integration on campus, and sense of community on campus. The current proposed research will address some of the gaps in previous research by identifying a sample of college students with mental illnesses, investigating a range of mental health services utilized by students and asking about students' own perceptions of the adequacy of mental health services provided to them. This study should provide important information about the characteristics, needs, and educational experiences of college students with mental illness as well as the role of mental health services in maintaining educational goals.